Refrigerating apparatus



1 1936 V s. v. COOK ET AL 2,053,251

REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Original Filed Nov. 3, 1930 7 Sheets-Sheet l E is 16 2 5 film H 3 m J 5 S 8 5 0 0 Z 0 5 5 b V 9 S z In I0 E 2 m U N e v 4 R w m 7 4 I I nv nu O s U l T L A A 3 5'5. .1 H W i A o III M G N I N d m l i l O N m 7" 2 2 A .1 I c R F 2 mm I 2 E i I V m Hal? R n m I s w a mm W R 1 r O nu nu Pd 4 5 o liv w I 1 M EH 9 11 lo Sept 8 P 1935- 's. v' COOK ET AL 2,053,251

REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Original Filed'Novl 5, 1950 7 Sheets-Sheet 3 %TTORNEY W Sept. 8, 1936.

S. V. COOK ET AL REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Original Filed Nov. 3, 1930 7 Sheets-Sheet 4 A ORY Sept. 8, 1936.

s. v. COOK ET Al.

REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Original Filed Nov. 3, 1950 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 VIII, I] 70/ 7/ I lNENi BY j ATTORNEYS 7 Sheets-Sheet 6 BY j ATTORNEY S V COOK ET AL REFR IGERAT ING APPARATUS Original Filed Nov. 3, 1930 Sept. 8, 1936.

P 1936- s. v. cooK ET AL 2,053,251 7 REFRIGERATING APPARATUS I Original Filed Nov. 5, 1950 7 Sheets-Sheet '7 Patented Sept. 8, 3936 map s mss ATENT .oFFics I 2,053,251 nnrmonm'rmc APPARATUS ware Application November 3, 1930, Serial No. 492,944

' Renewed January-31, 1936 8 Glaims.

tion currents set up therein, will transfer large amounts of heat .therethrough. It has been proposed to provide a dead air space bounded by a thin bright metal foil or leaf, such for instance as bright aluminum foil, for insulating purposes. By the term metal foil is meant thin leaves of metal of such thickness that they can be readily formed to any desired shape. It has been found that these bright metal surfaces of aluminum foil radiate but very little heat, and consequently it is possible to utilize air spaces lined with such bright surfaces in heat insulating cabinets. By reducing the size of the air space the other objectional feature of. air space insulation, namely loss of heat by convection currents, is removed in that convection currents ordinarily set up are decreased to a minimum. In addition it has been found that air spaces bounded by such bright surfaces need not necessarily be made extra small in size or width to decrease the convection currents, for the reason that such-convection-cu rrents are dependent to a great extent on radiant heat.

An attempt to adapt such thin metallic foil to cabinet construction so as to utilize air spaces in the walls thereof for insulating purposes have met with great difliculty. In the first place, this foil is extremely thin and consequently cabinets must be so constructed as to prevent rupturing of the foil when such cabinets are subjected to the slam test, a test involving the opening and closing of the cabinet door over prolonged periods of time. Inaddition, the foil must be so supported within the cabinet walls as to maintain it taut at all times, while at the same time preventing the transfer of heat through these supporting means. 'I'hirdly, the foil being metal, has a tendency to rattle or cause what is known as a metal- 5 lie cry and great care must be taken to prevent or render inaudible such cries or other noises.

It is to such structure that our invention particularly relates, having for one ofits objects to provide a cabinet construction which will be 55 capable of utilizing the thin metal foil to an advantage while at the same time eliminating all of its disadvantages. ject of this invention toprovide a cabinet constructior'i wherein all metallic cries are adequately deadened. rup i g the foil is prevented,- and More particularly it is an ob a transfer of heat through the supportingmembers is eliminated. I

A further object of this invention is to provide a substantially all metal cabinet, light and extreme- 1y durable in construction, yet having incorporated therein means for preventing almost entirely the transfer of heat from the exterior to the in.- terior thereof.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, wherein a preferred form of the present invention are clearly shown.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a front vertical sectional view of a refrigerator cabinet embodying features of this invention; I

Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken transversely to the section shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a front vertical section of a modified 20 form of cabinet construction embodying features of this invention;

Fig. 4 is a vertical section taken transversely to the section shown in Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a horizontal section taken through the food compartment of the cabinet shown in Figs. 3 and 4; f

Fig. 6 is a vertical section of a modified form of cabinet construction also embodying featuresv of this invention;

Fig. '7 is an enlarged sectional view of a section of the cabinet shown in Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a detailed sectional view of a modified form of cabinet construction also embodying features of this invention; and

Fig. 9 is a view in elevation of the top of the cabinet shown in Fig. 8.

In order to illustrate the various features of this invention we have disclosed in Figs. 1 and 2 a refrigerator cabinet generally designated by the reference character II]. This cabinet includes outer side panels l2 and I3 of relatively stiff sheet metal provided with inwardly extending flanges I4 and. I5 respectively which flanges may be either at the back edges or back and front edges, and may be secured together in proper spaced relation by means of angle irons l6 extending around all four lower edges of the cabinet. The outer panels including the outer side panels l2 and I3 form the outer sheet metal lining of the cabinet. Intermediate the top and bottom of the outer side panels I? and I3, there is provided a wood frame member I1 extending longitudinally along the front of the cabinet and secured to the side panels at its side edges. Secured to the underside of the wood frame member I! is a bottom metallic plate I8 extending'rearwardly and provided with down-tumed flanges H! at its side edges secured in any convenient manner to the side panels I! and I3 respectively. This bottom plate more fully set forth hereinafter.

2 I6 is also provided with a'rear down-turned flange 2|l contacting the rear panel of the cabinet as- Thus the cabinet isdivided into an upper food storage compartment 2| which may be cooled in any convenient manner, for instance, by the evaporator disclosed therein, and with a machine compartment 22 which may for instance'house the refrigefating machine. a

Extending across the front of the cabinet and secured to the upper ends-of the side panels l2 and i3 is a second wood frame member 26, to the top of which is secured the top outer panel 21, the top panel 21 extending rearwardly and being provided with down-turned rear flange 28 overlapping the back of the cabinet. Although not shown on the drawings, it should be understood that upright wood frame members extend vertically between the frame members I1 and 26 at the front-edges of the side panels l2 and I3, to thereby form an opening for access to the food compartment 2|. This structure, although not shown, is similar to that disclosed in Fig. 5 showing a modified form of cabinet. Horizontal metal strip covers 30 and 3| are secured to the outside surface of the wood members I! and 26 respectively and these strips, provided with inwardly extending flanges 32 adjacent the door, opening, may be held in position by means of small blocks 33 of wood or any other insulating material secured to the wood members 30 and 3|. Or,'if desired, blocks 33 may be used as finishing strips, and other means, such as screws may be' used to hold panels 30 and 3| in position.

. It should be understood that similar vertical metal strips are secured to the outside 'of the vertical wood frame member in a manner similar to the disclosure in Fig. 5 and that such strips are held in position by wood or other blocks similar to those shown at 33 in Fig. 2. The inner lining III of the compartment 2| is formed by a metal lining secured at its front edges to the wood frame members I! and 26 and to upright wood frame members not shown, preferably by nailing the oil'- set portionliia to the frame members such as i1 and 26. This lining 40 may be a one-piece lining insert'able as a unit into the cabinet or it may be made up of a plurality of sections properly and adequately secured together at its edges in any convenient manner as by welding. It should be noted that the edges of the lining l are located between the blocks 33 and the frame members l1 and 26, and in this manner the break between the outer panels 30 and 3| and the inner lining 40 prevents the transfer of heat from the exterior of the cabinet inwardly along the metallic lining.

Carried by the upright wood frame members, not shown, is a closure member 42 pivoted thereto and adaptedto close the door opening'leading to the food storage compartment 2 I. Door 44 for closing the opening to the machine compartment is provided, this door being pivoted to the front angle iron as shown at 45 and being provided at its upper end with a slip catch shown at 41.

The upper food compartment 2| is provided with insulated walls to prevent the transfer of heat therethrough. In Figs. 1 and 2 the walls of the food compartment 2| are shown as including a plurality .of layers of thin metallic foil 66 spaoedapart to provide air spaces 6|. These spaces 6| maybe of any thickness designed to prevent convection currents. It has been found that a thickness of substantially one-half inch for the air spaces gives satisfactory results. These layers of metal foil are secured in prope s aced apart relation by means of blocks 52 of non-conducting material, which blocks in this particular modification are shown as corrugated paper. The

' edges of the air spaces, or in other words around the edges of the walls, there is provided an asphaltic material 56 for sealing theair spaces against the ingress of moisture. Thus it will be seen that there is provided in the walls of the compartment 2 a plurality of air spaces bounded on substantial- 1y all sides by the highly polished aluminum foil, and spaced apart by material capable of transferring but very small amounts of heat. The inner corrugated paper blocks 52 may be pasted to the lining 40 and the first layer of foil pasted to the other side of the blocks. Another set of blocks may be pasted over the foil and first set of blocks and so on. In this case, various ways of applying the metallic foil are possible. For instance, a long continuous strip, approximately as wide as the cabinet is deep, may be wound continuously around the supporting corrugated paper blocks. For instance, the one end of the metallic foil may be secured to the upper side of the corrugated paper block at the top of cabinet, and the foil may then be wound downwardly along one side of the cabinet, across the bottom thereof and then upwardly along the other side and thence across the top and over the top of the next block of supporting corrugated paper and so on spirally until the proper number of air spaces are formed. The back of the cabinet may then be enclosed in the proper way by individual lengths of metallic foil joining the edges of the spirally wound foil. After the air spaces have been properly sealed the cabinetmay be finished.

The foil 56, being metallic, care must be taken to prevent the transfer of the .so-called metallic cry from the walls thereof. To accomplish this purpose, we provide an exterior covering 60 of what is known aschipped board or any other sound deadening material such as felt, asbestos, wall board, or the like. This material may be placed within the exterior panelsof the cabinet so as to perform an additional function set forth 45 hereinafter. The rear panel 6| which may be a metalpanel if desired, is then secured to the back of the cabinet by means of bolts or rivets extending therethrough into the side fianges II and I5 of the side panels I2 and I3 respectively. This rear panel 6| mayalso be secured down to the flange of the top metallic member 21 and if desired, to the down-turned flange 20 of thebottom plate member l8.

Either before the various panels are assembled or after the cabinet has been totally'assembled, all the various metallic panels may be coated with some finishing material such as porcelainto provide the proper finish. Thus the cabinet will be both inside and outside porcelain enameled, and in addition will be easily cleaned and have a decidedly good appearance. The edge strips 62 which may also be of metal, may then be secured in position to cover up the unsightly 65 appearance of the adjacent edges of the various metal panels. Thus the chip-board 66 being positioned directly adjacent the enameled outer panels, acts to prevent chipping of the enamel.

It shouldbe noted that the cabinet disclosed in Fig. 1 is substantially all metal in construction, having nocorner posts of wood or other material. It should also be noted that the walls thereof are composed of substantially nothing but air spaces and an extremely light metallic foil, thereby reducing the weight of the entire cabinet many from said sheet metal liner and thermally insulated therefrom, a plurality of sheets of bright metallic foil between said inner sheet metal liner and said outer sheet metal walls, a plurality of structural non-conducting strips arranged at the edges of the sheets for supporting said sheets of bright metallic toll in spaced relation providing relatively thin air spaces between the sheets, said sheets and strips being stacked one upon the other, said sheets of foil having their edges tightly held between said strips, said structural strips being fastened together.

5. A refrigerator cabinet including an inner sheet metal liner, outer sheet metal walls spaced from said sheet metal liner and thermally insulated therefrom, a plurality of sheets of bright metallic foil between said inner sheet metal liner and said outer sheet metal walls, a plurality of structural non-conducting strips arranged at the edges of the sheets for supporting said sheets of bright metallic foil in spaced relation providing relatively thin air spaces between the sheets, said sheets of foil having their edges tightly held between said strips and fastened to said strips by an adhesive, said sheets and strips being stacked one upon another and fastened together by an adhesive, and means for preventing the access of external air and moisture to the air spaces leetween the sheets of foil.

6. A refrigerator cabinet including an inner sheet metal liner, outer walls spaced from said sheet metal liner and thermally insulated therefrom, a plurality of bright metal surfaced heat reflecting sheets between the inner liner and the outer walls, a plurality of sets structural nonconducting strips arranged at the edges of the sheets for supporting the sheets in spaced relation providing relatively thin air spaces between the sheets, said sheets and strips being stacked one upon the other, said sheets having their edges tightly held between the strips, and a material between and separating the adjacent sets of strips.

7. A refrigerator cabinet including an inner sheet metal liner, outer walls spaced from said sheet metal liner and thermally insulated therei'rom, a plurality of bright metal surfaced heat reflecting sheets between the inner liner and the outer walls, a plurality of sets of structural nonconducting strips arranged at the edges oi the sheets for supporting the sheets in spaced relation providing relatively thin air spaces between the sheets, said sheets and strips being stacked one upon the other, said sheets having their edges tightly held between the strips, and a viscous sealing material between and separating adjacent sets of strips at the edge portions of the inner liner.

8. A structure for enclosing a space to be insulated including inner and outer linings, spaced apart by non-conducting material and thermally insulated from one another, insulating material in the space between said linings, said insulating material including spaced sheets of flexible material forming air spaces therebetween, said sheets having bright heat reflecting surfaces and being held in spaced apart relation by means of non-conducting structural material arranged at the corners of the structure, said sheets and structural material being stacked one upon the other.

' FREDC L. CHASE.

V. COOK. 

